Peter Laslett

Peter Laslett, who died on November 8th, 2001, at the age of eighty-five, pursued more than one career as a professional historian and in each was a pioneer in a field that thrived as a result of the stimulus he gave to it. Laslett was part of a remarkable cohort of undergraduate historians at St John’s College, Cambridge in the late 1930s which included the likes of John Habbakuk and Edward Miller. He graduated in 1938 having gained firsts in both parts of the History Tripos, but unlike his distinguished peers was not drawn immediately towards economic and social history.